60 pages of Lark e-mails recovered, released

Feb. 20, 2014

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The Lansing Board of Water & Light on Thursday released 63 pages of e-mails sent to or from General Manager J. Peter Lark or forwarded on his behalf in the week after the Dec. 21-22 ice storm knocked out power to about 40 percent of the utility’s customers.

Sandra Zerkle, who chairs BWL’s Board of Commissioners, said the e-mails were recovered in a “broader” follow-up search done in response to a Freedom of Information Act appeal by MLive. Lark’s e-mails also were released to the State Journal, which has filed its own appeal of a FOIA request denial.

Lark told the State Journal last Friday he routinely deletes his e-mails as soon as he determines they have “no useful value.” BWL has informed the State Journal and other news organizations that e-mails they requested could not be provided because they do not exist. However, e-mails commonly remain on network servers for extended periods after their deletion from user in-boxes.

More than 30 pages of the e-mails released Thursday bore the name of BWL’s Information Technology Director Greg Hess, who appeared to have retrieved or delivered the e-mails as part of the broader search.

The majority of the e-mails involved power restoration requests sent to Lark by members of BWL’s Board or by employees on behalf of their neighbors or friends. Some of Lark’s e-mails were transmitted Dec. 23-25, corresponding to the time he vacationed in New York. Those e-mails were sent by cell phone. None mentioned his whereabouts.

The State Journal reported Jan. 2 the trip to New York and linked to vacation photos posted by his wife on Facebook. Lark apologized at a news conference later that day.